OTT: Friend, Foe, or Value Add

OTT services are here to stay. Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Netflix, Sony VUE, HBO Go and others deliver relevant value to today's consumer. OTT is a formidable contender in today's content experience, not only because it offers unique content or allows consumers the ability to binge-watch, but because it enables them to watch what they want, where they want, when they want. OTT is a new kind of convenience.

And its successful appeal to consumers has three major repercussions: consumers are using more bandwidth; they are viewing less conventional programming and in some cases, they’re shaving, or even cutting, the cord.

The opportunity in entertainment delivery is taking a strategic position to these trends. And that requires deciding how to be a true service provider vs. a pipe provider.

As a service provider, the focus becomes how to maintain a relationship as the trusted curator of subscribers’ viewing experience: How to make their lives simpler, how to enable users to access outside content sources—but through a branded user experience that gives consumers choices, but enables them to stay within a familiar, unified experience.

In order to offer this experience, service providers will need to consider how to integrate the OTT experience into their entertainment delivery platform, how to upgrade their networks to support the uptick in bandwidth use, and how to evolve their headend to deliver the next generation of IP Video.

That’s where ARRIS can help. ARRIS offers service providers the ability to determine where they are, where they’re going, and where they should invest. Our leading portfolio and experience with network and CPE technology and global deployments of all sizes can light the path forward and keep subscribers loyal, in the face of OTT… or whatever’s next. .